Attitude Check-up
What first comes to mind when you consider welcoming people with disabilities to your faith community?
- Designated parking spaces for people with limited mobility?
- A clear access ramp?
- Having greeters at the door to open and hold the door when people with assistive devices come in?
- Space in your sanctuary for people with mobility devices?
- Reminding congregants without disabilities not to use the accessible restroom stalls?
Do you notice the common thread in the above thinking? The physical. The focus is on the building, structures, and physical space.
Granted, physical accessibility is essential. We cannot honestly welcome people with disabilities if they cannot even get into the church building without difficulties. However, removing barriers and creating access for people with disabilities must go beyond the physical. We need to create space for people to connect so that they don’t just share physical space but share life together.
Barriers in the Church
Despite the importance of religious faith to many individuals with disabilities and their families, they often encounter numerous barriers preventing their meaningful participation in faith communities. The factors that influence religious service attendance and participation are many. But various research shows that barriers from within the congregation are a major hindrance for people with disabilities to fully participate in the life of the faith community.1
Barriers in the church range from physical structures of the building, disability theology, religious programming to people’s attitudes. Among these, attitudinal barriers are the most damaging and the hardest to overcome. Attitudes are elusive. When you point out people’s impolite attitudes toward individuals with disabilities, people can easily explain those attitudes away or outright deny them. You might even be accused of being “too sensitive” or “overthinking.”
Many in the church have been influenced by culture. They have bought the lies that people are worthy only if they meet certain “standards” or “qualifications.” They avoid interactions with individuals with disabilities. When seeing a disabled person coming toward them, they either avert eye contact or pretend not to see the person.
Some feel pity for people living with disabilities and feel uncomfortable around them. They either remain silent or say the wrong things at the wrong time. Though unintentional, those careless words and attitudes inadvertently hurt those who are at the receiving end.
When individuals with disabilities and their families encounter unwelcoming attitudes and even rejection from the faith community, some may choose to stay but remain on the fringe. But many families decide to pull away from the church to avoid pain and disappointment.
Attitudes-of-the-Heart
Church has failed to welcome and include people with disabilities because many believers have incorrect, even negative, perceptions of disabled people. Instead of seeing each person as created in God’s image, many believers define a person’s worth based on the person’s abilities or limitations. Instead of valuing each person according to biblical instructions, many believers’ perceptions have mainly been influenced by the surrounding culture.2
Many church leaders are often unaware that their churches have attitudinal barriers that make people with disabilities and their families feel unwelcome. There is rarely any teaching from the pulpit about God’s heart for the downtrodden and disadvantaged in society. There is no exhortation from the leadership to welcome, accept, and care for the disabled among us. As a result, the attitudinal barriers have not been addressed. And no action has been taken to raise awareness and correct the incorrect perceptions concerning people with disabilities.
The result is that the unwelcoming attitudes persist within congregations and prevent families affected by disabilities from meaningful engagement and full participation in the church community.
It Is Time to Wake up!
The church of Jesus Christ has a high call to love and serve people with disabilities. They are made in God’s image and deeply loved by God. Unfortunately, many churches today are lost in the culture. They fall short of their efforts to welcome and include people with disabilities. Marva Dawn points out that most churches have lost their witness by operating according to the world’s value system that favors power, status, reputation, and popularity.
It is time for Christian churches to wake up! As Christ’s followers and representatives, we have the privilege and responsibility to share His truth and love with those among us, especially those who are often neglected and despised by the world. We are to show kindness to people living with disabilities and accept them as they are. God has called us to be beacons of His light to shine bright in this dark world.
1. Li, Yun. “Effective Disability Ministry Practices at Local Churches.” Unpublished manuscript, last modified November 17, 2022. Microsoft Word file.
2. Ibid.